I think that any team that has Maxim Lapierre as their second best center is in huge trouble.

Any team that has Maxim Lapierre as their fourth best center is deep and poised for a long run.

Does anybody remember at the Old Site who it was that used to post about the necessity of two top centers on a cup-winning team? (I'm thinking THINKER, but maybe Hjumofo). At any rate, I've definitely come around to that line of thinking.

When Manny was healthy, he was good enough offensively to step up into the 2nd line center spot if Kesler was hurt. Clearly we had nobody to do that before Roy, hence Burrows and Raymond taking faceoffs on purpose. If our third line is Schroeder-Hansen-Raymond going into the playoffs I will be stoked, because the top 3 lines will be legitimate scoring threats.

Kesler's value to the team's success cannot be overstated - crucial to PP, PK, and secondary scoring. The only "mistake" of AV, GMMG and Newell Brown is designing the team to rely so heavily on an oft-injured player, which is a fair criticism. I did raise the idea of trading Kesler after 2011 because his value would never be higher and his injuries were piling up.

But say what you want about the time on the ice right now not going deep, that's a fair assessment...but remember Kesler singlehandedly won the second round against Nashville and carried the team to the Final 4.

Diehard1 wrote:...we'll see the real Canucks for the first time this year. Should be a much improved version from the 6 forwards injured, #6 dman playing up front version we saw a few weeks back.

It will be nice not be the President's Trophy winning favourites for a change. Maybe teams will take us lightly this time around?

I don't mind winning the President's Trophy or not, doesn't make much difference. The big thing for this team, IMHO, will be Kesler will be just hitting his stride once the playoffs roll around, and Roy will understand the way the team plays. Bringing in 2 top 2 centers for the 2nd and 3rd line when Henrik has been carrying the ball for the last 30 games makes a huge difference, and should create matchup problems for almost any team in the playoffs.

I agree with all of it and just wnat the fucking cup before I die or worse, lose interest after 40 odd years of little reward. Love the team when healthy but they seem to have trouble staying healthy in the regular season....how about the playoffs?

ESQ wrote:Kesler's value to the team's success cannot be overstated - crucial to PP, PK, and secondary scoring. The only "mistake" of AV, GMMG and Newell Brown is designing the team to rely so heavily on an oft-injured player, which is a fair criticism. I did raise the idea of trading Kesler after 2011 because his value would never be higher and his injuries were piling up.

I think they have realized they need to be able to replace Kesler as he is going to be frequently injured due to his style of play so I expect they will try and keep another top 6 Center around. Special teams suck w/o him and any hope of going deep in the playoffs will be predicated on his health.

dangler wrote: I think they have realized they need to be able to replace Kesler as he is going to be frequently injured due to his style of play so I expect they will try and keep another top 6 Center around. Special teams suck w/o him and any hope of going deep in the playoffs will be predicated on his health.

I think if the top 3 centers are Hank/Roy/Lapierre, its a pretty middle-of-the-road playoff team, and would likely make the second round as a top seed, but not be able to run with Anaheim or Chicago. If Kesler is healthy, I think the Canucks can hold their own against anybody (though they wouldn't be favourites against ANA or CHI).

Its interesting that Anaheim is struggling with their first major injury of the year (Getzlaf), but Chicago has barely slowed down without Sharp, Hossa, and now Bolland. It will be very interesting to see how Chicago handles the rest of the season now that they've clinched.

dangler wrote: I think they have realized they need to be able to replace Kesler as he is going to be frequently injured due to his style of play so I expect they will try and keep another top 6 Center around. Special teams suck w/o him and any hope of going deep in the playoffs will be predicated on his health.

I think if the top 3 centers are Hank/Roy/Lapierre, its a pretty middle-of-the-road playoff team, and would likely make the second round as a top seed, but not be able to run with Anaheim or Chicago. If Kesler is healthy, I think the Canucks can hold their own against anybody (though they wouldn't be favourites against ANA or CHI).

Its interesting that Anaheim is struggling with their first major injury of the year (Getzlaf), but Chicago has barely slowed down without Sharp, Hossa, and now Bolland. It will be very interesting to see how Chicago handles the rest of the season now that they've clinched.

They can thank Emery in large part for their success so far. Hr has finally recovered from his hip surgery and is playing some very good hockey, reminiscent of his cup run with Ottawa. No, he has done it along. Just saying goaltending was a big question mark for them and I think Emery's reemergence as a number one has gone a long way to solidify a problem area for them.

I don't think Anaheim is any big threat. Good team for sure but really the teams that worry me are Chicago , LA and hte Blues. Maybe the Wild too. I have all of these teams as being a bigger threat to Vancouver than the Ducks.

The BIG is the part that worries me - their forwards are downright nasty, and have an ability to distract the opponent, while Teemu continues to defy Father Time. Anaheim will always worry me until Teemu retires. I'd certainly give the edge to a healthy Canucks team, but LA, the Sharks (i.e. Thornton finally neutralizing Kesler with that injury and injuring Ehrhoff), and the Byfuglien-era Hawks showed that skill+size causes the Canucks fits.

I was discussing ideal first round match-ups with a Leafs fan, and I picked the Wild - start Lu at home and Schneider at Minny and we'd sweep! When it comes to the Wild, I remember the knobs on the radio before a Canucks-Wild game in Dec. 2011, when the Wild were on top of the League, saying that "The Wild have arrived". In my mind nothing has changed -they're a streaky team, and if they get on a streak at the right time (something they haven't done since 2003) they might make some noise.

I would have loved a first-round matchup against the Blackhawks - get it out of the way, if these Canucks win they're a team of destiny, if they lose - well, at least you get May and June of your life back

LA and STL...I probably don't give them enough credit, but I feel like this team is better suited to beat the close-checking, suffocating Sutter/Hitchcock style. Of the two LA worries me more though.